each, namely Paila, Vaisampayana, Jaimini and Sumantu. Then with tales, anecdotes,
songs and lore that had come down from the ages he compiled a Purana, and taught it and
the Itihasa to his fifth disciple, the suta Romaharsana or Lomaharsana … After that he
composed the Mahabharata. The epic itself implies that the Purana preceded it … As
explained above, the sutas had from remote times preserved the genealogies of gods,
rishis and kings, and traditions and ballads about celebrated men, that is, exactly the
material—tales, songs and ancient lore—out of which the Purana was constructed.
Whether or not Vyasa composed the original Purana or superintended its compilation, is
immaterial for the present purpose … After the original Purana was composed, by Vyasa
as is said, his disciple Romaharsana taught it to his son Ugrasravas, and Ugrasravas the
sauti appears as the reciter in some of the present Puranas; and the sutas still retained the
right to recite it for their livelihood. But, as stated above, Romaharsana taught it to his six
disciples, at least five of whom were brahmans. It thus passed into the hands of
brahmans, and their appropriation and development of it increased in the course of time,
as the Purana grew into many Puranas, as Sanskrit learning became peculiarly the
province of the brahmans, and as new and frankly sectarian Puranas were composed.
Pargiter cited reasons for his belief that the Mahabharata was composed
after the original Purana, though that runs contrary to the popular
perception about the Mahabharata having been composed before the
Puranas. That popular and linear perception is too simplistic, since texts
evolved in parallel, not necessarily sequentially.
In popular perception, Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa composed the
Mahabharata. He then composed the Puranas. Alternatively, he composed
an original core Purana text, which has been lost, and others embellished it
through additions. The adjective ‘Purana’, meaning old account or old text,
became a proper noun, signifying a specific text. To be classified as a
Purana, a Purana has to possess five attributes—pancha lakshmana. That is,
five topics must be discussed—sarga, pratisarga, vamsha, manvantara and
vamshanucharita. The clearest statement of this is in the Matsya Purana.
Unlike the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, there is no Critical Edition of
the Puranas.5 Therefore, citing chapter and verse from a Purana text is
somewhat more difficult, since verse, if not chapter, may vary from text to
text. With that caveat, the relevant shloka (verse) should be in the 53rd
chapter of the Matysa Purana. Sarga means the original or primary creation.
The converse of sarga is universal destruction and dissolution, or pralaya.
That period of sarga lasts for one of Brahma’s days, known as kalpa. When
Brahma sleeps, during his night, there is universal destruction.
In measuring time, there is the notion of a yuga (era) and there are four
yugas—satya yuga (also known as krita yuga), treta yuga, dvapara yuga
and kali yuga. Satya yuga lasts for 4,000 years, treta yuga for 3,000 years,